PrincessCriminal
by little miss dracula
Summary: Rose Dubois is everything John Bender hates. But she decides to wriggle her way into his life anyway, and suddenly she's in his head as well. But she's the princess and he's the criminal, right? John/OC a bit John/Allison. Summary sucks. R R
1. A new girl arrives Or Suck my dick red

Bonjour, fanficers... I'm a little in love with The Breakfast Club at the min, so this one's for the mate who showed me it, as I know you love John ;) Anyway, read, review etc etc etc... Rated for sexual content and language. If you don't like, don't read. Oh!And I don't own the Breakfast Club. Sorry :'(

Monday morning. Homeroom. John Bender, in a rare appearance, sat at the back of the class, carving some no doubt obscene message into his desk with a pocket knife. The new girl stood at the front of the class, half listening to the lame introduction the teacher was giving. Her Father had just hit the big time with some technological discovery and they d moved to America from England because Little Miss Princess there wanted to go to Harvard. Bender looked up at the girl as she made her way to the only spare seat, two rows in front of him. Little princess slut. Her Dolce and Gabana handbag, her tailored tweed jacket, the four inch black stilettos. Great. Everything John Bender hated just got personified.

Stupid little princess. He muttered under his breath.  
Shut up John. The girl in front of him spoke without turning her head.

Claire. His now ex girlfriend. They d been together for a couple of months a while back, after meeting in detention. Then she ended it with him, worried her social status was falling.

Suck my dick, Red.

He could almost hear her rolling her eyes. The new girl looked back to see who was speaking, and it was when she locked eyes with John that she gave what he could only describe as the most seductive smirk ever, and turned back to the front of class.

It was at this precise moment that John Bender realised just how much he hated the stupid teasing bitches in this school, picked up his stuff, and walked nonchalantly out of homeroom. The new girl turned to Claire.

Is he always like that? Claire nodded and the two exchanged a silent smile.

The new girl sat with Claire at lunch, introduced herself as Rose Dubois, and became immediate friends with the majority of the social group, including Claire. The girls all admired her short black hair and commented on how it just showed off those gorgeous cheekbones, and wasn t her handbag just to die for? At the next table, sitting so he could just see Rose through the mass of hair and hairspray that dominated Claire s side of the table was John Bender. He glared at Rose, finding himself both surprised and somewhat pleased when she noticed, met his eyes and raised one perfectly plucked eyebrow. The girls arranged a day at the mall the following Saturday and departed for their classes. Rose made her way quickly to her English class, only to find the unwelcome sight of John Bender leaning back on his chair at the back of the classroom.

Stalking me, Bender?

In your dreams, Princess.

No eye roll. That was refreshing. Instead he got another smirk and she set her faux-crocodile handbag onto the table next to him.

What are you doing?

Sitting next to you, dumbass.

Bender gave Rose his best evil glare, and still she slid into the chair next to him. To Bender s extreme annoyance she spoke not a word during class. She was attentive to their over enthusiastic and slightly annoying teacher, took notes, and made it pointedly obvious that she was not going to look at John Bender. This, of course, infuriated our angst ridden hero, especially since his eyes seemed to have taken on a mind of their own, and that mind was especially concerned with the cleavage barely covered now she had taken off the preppy jacket to reveal a simple white vest top. Halfway through class, Rose finally gave in to temptation and flicked her eyes in the direction of the boy next to her. He was blatantly oblivious to the entire class, sitting sideways in his chair to better aid his view, a pen (Rose was surprised he owned such an instrument) halfway in his mouth. She snorted a laugh and turned her attention back to class. 


	2. Rose meets Ally or Sad is beautiful too

Waving goodbye to her new found friends Rose tottered in the direction of the car park. She laughed softly as she saw a group of stoners, including, you guessed it, our very own John Bender, huddled round a motorbike that they were evidently admiring. She sat down on the kerb not far from them and pulled her boots out of her bag, throwing the painful, albeit beautiful Jimmy Choos into the bag in their place. She sauntered over to the bike.

"Now who's stalking who Princess?" Bender sneered at her.

"In your dreams B. I m just trying to get to my ride okay?"

Happy with the shocked silence she got her helmet from under the seat and started the bike.

"Present from your rich Daddy?" Bender finally came back at her

"This old thing?" Rose laughed "Not this one. I saved up for this back in England, selling paintings, busking, stuff like that. See ya, B." She started up the engine and roared off, out of the parking lot and down the road.

That night. Rose's house. I suppose you could say it was everything Bender never had. Never thought he wanted. Mom made dinner and they talked about their days. Rose said she d made friends. Her Dad asked if she d met any boys. She laughed and said there were a lot of boys at the school. Her Mom asked if there were any nice ones. Rose giggled and thought to herself that she couldn t describe him as nice, but she could say he was damn intriguing, which was all she was bothered about, really. After dinner they cleared the things away together, Rose making sure she cleaned each plate twice, just to be sure.

That night. John's house. I suppose you could say it was everything Rose had never experienced. Mom sat in the kitchen, drinking her life away. Bender tried to sneak in without his Father noticing, but he was in the lounge and heard the traitorous creak of the top stair as he headed to his basement. He d lurched out of his chair, and lunged towards John, the foul stench of body odour and beer filling the air. He roared at his son who froze on the stairs, praying to a God he didn t believe in that he d just shout, unlikely as it was.

It was, Rose decided as she wrote exactly two pages in her journal, it was a classic case of lust at first sight. John Bender was so very different from the guys back home. The public schoolboys that took her out to dinner and left her with a kiss. John Bender was a criminal, sarcastic, angry. She had a perfectly clear idea of what a date with John Bender would involve and that thrilled her a little. So maybe, just maybe, life at Shermer could get interesting.

As John tentatively climbed onto his bed, trying to avoid the places where it still hurt, he figured it was because she was new. New was always exciting, even if she did seem a little like Claire and her group. But then, she didn t. Her short hair, her bike, that smirk. They indicated that she wasn t that pure little prom queen. Yet, she still seemed to be everything he hated. Rose was hot and she knew it, she clearly used it. She was clearly going to be Claire s new BFFL and John couldn t imagine what kind of poison she d pour into Rose s ear. Not that he cared or anything.

It was in art the next day that Rose met Allison. And if she hadn t met Allison then she and John Bender would never have ended up sat awkwardly next to each other in the movie theatre (but we ll get to that later).

"Hey!" Rose greeted the slightly gothic looking girl next to her. She got an awkward smile and a nod in return.

"I'm Rose," she beamed, undeterred.

"Allison," the girl offered, somewhat tentatively. The girl was obviously new, but as Allison took in the girl she decided she seemed kind of cool. It was when the girl started drawing that Allison decided she had kinda fallen in love.

She worked with pencil, like Allison, and was working on a black and white sketch of a girl. She was curled up with her knees in front of her, hair hanging over her face. An arm hung loose, a knife in hand. Allison thought it the saddest picture she d ever seen.

"That's beautiful!" She exclaimed almost involuntarily.

Rose cocked her head to one side in thought.

"It's sad."

She ripped the page out of her sketch book and set to work on a sketch of a face. Perfectly accurate and wonderful for it, but lacking any emotion.

"Sad can be beautiful too," Allison gave a brief smile and thought about The Breakfast Club. Only her and John had stayed firm friends, with Brian an occasional appearance. In a way, all three of them were sad. She because, well, she just was. Brian because he put all that pressure on himself and John because of his family and because he d yet to get over Claire, who he d thought was the love of his life. But John was definitely beautiful, somewhere under it all.

"I guess." Suddenly light lit up Rose s face. "You know, you ve just given me a great idea!"

"Good, I guess. Um, are you going to keep that?" Allison pointed at the picture.

"Nah, I don t like it."

Allison picked it up and put it in her bag. She smiled and set to work on her own project.


	3. Need a ride Bender?

"I swear that new girl is gonna drive me nuts!" John exclaimed as he fell onto Allison s bed that night, a bag of ice on his bruised face.

"Ah, just coz you fancy her, Bender!"

"I do not. She's too much like Claire."

"She's nothing like Claire. You should see this." Allison pulled out the drawing Rose had done earlier that day.

"That s good, Al." John said, after a cursory glance.

"Rose drew it." She grinned as John took a longer look at it. Noting the detail, the faint cuts on the drawn girl s wrists, and the haunted look in the one eye visible. "Kinda cool, huh?"

"Yeah. Al?"

"What?"

"Let's get trashed tonight."

The Mall. Late Saturday morning. Claire, Rose and several of Claire s friends sat in the Starbucks, discussing life, shoes, and most importantly, men.

"So, what's with Bender staring at you, like every time he sees you?"

"He doesn't. Does he?" Rose dipped her head and blushed a little.

"Uh... yeah! Like at Lunch yesterday!" The girls burst into giggles. John had been walking by the table Rose was sat at. He had looked at her (in contempt, according to him) as she'd looked at him from under her eyelashes. John had tripped over his own feet, and stumbled to sit with Allison as quickly as possible. Rose laughed with them.

"He's... different. From the guys in England I mean."

"Hmm, English guys!" One of Claire s friends, Ellie swooned. Rose giggled and pulled out a wallet from her bag.

"Take a look at mine!" Ellie flicked open the wallet. It was full of pictures of good looking guys.

"Are you dating all these guys?"

"Well, I was. Before I came here."

"Wow, you and Bender sure have that in common at least!"

"He seems kinda cool. Unlike those guys."

"What was wrong with them? He," Stacey pointed "is particularly gorgeous."

"Oh they re all gorgeous. But, they're all so nice. None of them would you know, take me to bed. And even the ones that would were all so nice. Gentle, loving. Nice. Had it up to here with nice."

"Well, honey," Claire smiled at her, "If you don t want nice, then John Bender is your man!"

Allison dumped her bag next to John in the library. Detention. Again. Though, yet again, she didn t really need to be here. She was here to keep John company. He'd vandalised a table, and someone had nearly lost a finger in his locker trap system.

"So, you gonna ask her out for a drink or what?" John remained stubbornly silent. "It's just, I've heard that the new quarterback has taken quite an interest in her."

"He's welcome to her." John rubbed the fading bruise on his cheek.

"You honestly want her to date the quarterback?"

John whispered something.

"What?"

"I said NO!" John suddenly yelled. Allison looked at him, hurt. Then she got up and walked away, out of the library. John sat for a while, stewing in his own anger. Then he knocked over three tables, tore up three times as many books and yelled a lot. It didn t make him feel any better.

Four thirty finally arrived, and John shoved his way out of the school. Quite how he managed to shove in an empty school is not yet known, and yet, he did. There, waiting in front of the school doors, leaning on a brand new Audi, smirking, clad in a black micro mini dress and shades, was Rose.

"Need a ride, Bender?"


	4. Strawberries and honey

Without a word, John had gone round to the passenger side and clambered into the car. With a flick of her head, Rose had undone her door, got in and started the engine. Neither of them said a word for a while, yet the silence felt neither comfortable nor strained. It just was. Rose drove in silence for awhile, well aware that John was staring at her. It was after about five minutes that he finally spoke.

"Where, exactly, are we going?"

"I have no idea. Where s good?"

"Now that, Princess, depends on what you wanna do. A drink? Hook up?"

Rose glanced at him and smirked.

"That what you wanna do, Bender? Hook up?" When he replied, he didn t take his eyes off her

"Turn left. Here."

Rose turned left sharply, angering several motorists and nearly giving the old lady cyclist who was about to cross the road a heart attack. They had turned into a housing estate and after a minute or two John barked at her to turn right. They headed into a deserted car park, twilight falling around them. Rose parked the car and unbuckled her seatbelt, swinging round to face John.

"I guess that means you do." She smirked again, and for a moment both of them just stared. Brown eyes boring into green ones. Rose never did figure out who lunged for whom first. But in an instant, their lips had collided, his hands snaked their way expertly around her neck, pulling her closer. Her hands meshed in his hair and John felt a hunger that he thought he d long forgotten when he heard her moan into the kiss, one hand trailing down to his shirt (tatty, he realised. Comfy, she decided,) to undo the buttons. She pressed herself against him with another moan that made him move his tongue deeper into her mouth. Later, he would swear she tasted like strawberries and honey. Somehow, barely breaking the kiss, they wriggled into the backseat, John clambering on top of Rose. She moaned into him again and with a sound like a cross between a groan and a roar, he tore away from her lips and traced a rough line of kisses down her throat, relishing the way her breath caught when he kissed her just here. One of his hands slid up her bare thigh and she sighed and pressed her neck against his lips. She fought to undo the dress (zipper at the front, handy) and the two broke the kiss whilst she wriggled out of it, their breathing loud in the otherwise still evening. John took in her body eagerly, her porcelain skin, a mole just to the left of her navel, ample breasts, nipples hard through her black bra. He trailed his hand lightly up her torso, pulling her bra down and roughly pinching one nipple. It was too much and she lightly bucked her pelvis towards him, gasping his name as she , it seemed, was a bad idea. John suddenly stopped, sat up, and raked a hand through his already mussed up hair. He scrambled back to the front of the car, doing up his shirt on the way. Rose also sat up, confused.

"Bender?" She was suddenly aware of a chill in the air as John undid one door and slammed it shut behind him as he walked off. Hastily doing up the zip of her dress, Rose too clambered out of the car ungracefully.

"John?" She shouted at his retreating back. He didn t look. She didn t think he would. So she sat in the driver s seat, entirely confused, and she didn't cry. She stared hard out of the windshield and dug her fingernails into the steering wheel.

'He's in a majorly bad mood... You should go see him. He gets out of detention at 4.30... Course I'm sure it s a good idea, he s my best friend...' Damn Allison. Rose had to wonder if they d been in on it together, to humiliate her. But she disregarded that thought almost as soon as it came into her head. John, she could believe, would do something like that. But Allison, Rose doubted very much if that girl had any malice in her at all.


	5. What happened to your face?

okayy.. a relatively short chapter :) Enjoy Oh! I still don't own it... damn...

The loud, insistent rapping on her window woke Allison from a perfectly decent dream involving her and several band members, and she groaned as she realised what it meant. Bender had decided that coming to her house in the middle of the night was a good idea. She opened the window and let him jump in and plonk himself on a purple beanbag. Oh dear. He was glaring at her. Allison presumed the meeting she'd set up between John and Rose had not gone as she'd planned. But it was one in the morning! What else could he have been doing if he wasn't...

"I've been walking." He answered her unasked question.

"So..."

"Yea, so... So why was Rose Dubois waiting for me outside detention today? In her stupidly pretentious Audi, the Princess whore."

"Um, you were in a shitty mood, and I figured some action would calm you down. What are you saying? What happened?"

"Stupid slut!" Bender hissed. "Like I'd fall for her tricks."

"Tricks? What did she do?"

"As if you believe her. Like she s not going to run back to all her Prom Queen friends and tell them exactly what John Bender is like..." He imitated a female voice "_O my god Claire, I can t believe I went through with that! How did you put up with him for two whole months_?"

"She's not like that John."

"And you. Why would you set me up with her?"

"Don't you find her attractive John? Doesn t seeing her make you feel just a tiny bit of what you felt with Claire?"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT CLAIRE!"

"NO! John Bender, you still wear her earring for Christ's sake. Don't you want to move on? Find someone a little bit different, who you like? Who likes you?"

"What's the point? I'm a no good, dirty, rotten son of a bitch. Even if such a person existed, it is not Rose Dubois, and even if I did want to fuck her, what good will it do me? She'll end up dating a jock and I ll be that dirty little secret in the back of her mind." His voice dropped a little

"You're scared." Allison s eyes widened at the thought of John Bender, her best friend and total reject being scared.

That Wednesday, John walked into English class and mentally kicked himself in the balls. Rose was sat there, in the seat next to him, sketching away in that damned book of hers. That wasn't the reason for his metaphorical kick though. Round her shoulders was a Letterman jacket. The same one Bender had seen that no good twat Scott wearing. He crashed into the chair next to her and kicked back onto two legs, leaning against the wall.

"You're brain dead boyfriend give you that as a present, Princess?"

"Scott's not my boyfriend, Bender. He gave it to me because I was cold. It's the gentlemanly thing to do." Not once did she look up from her sketch.

"Something a no good rotten s.o.b like me would know about, huh?"

"I dunno, B." She set down her pencil and pulled the jumper tighter around herself, "When I left England I wanted a guy that wasn t nice, wasn't like the public schoolboy dicks I was used to. Then I met this guy, who was you know, kinda cool. But he's from, like a different world. And I don't know how to change how he thinks of me. And now I'm thinking nice guys like Scott aren't so bad." She picked up her pencil and continued her sketch. John sat in a state of shock. "And Bender? What happened? To your face, I mean?"

"Fuck off, Princess."

As soon as Rose walked into Art class, Allison knew she'd need to yell at Bender more tonight.

"Hey, Al," she said quietly, pulling out her sketch book and setting to work immediately.

"Hey Rose. Um, listen, I'm kinda guessing Saturday didn't go great..." Rose smiled at her.

"It's cool. Some guys just aren't interested, and that's okay."

"Sure. You wanna go to the movies later?"

"I'd love to," Rose grinned back.

Allison found Bender smoking on the football pitch. She sat down next to him in silence, resting one head comfortably on his shoulder.

"Hey, Ally,"

She smiled into his shoulder.

"What do you wanna do tonight?"

"Movies?" she suggested, not quite as innocently as she sounded

"I'm broke Al."

"I'm not, I'll pay." She looked up at him

"I thought the guy was meant to pay?" He smiled

"Ugh, Bender you make it sound like a date..." He grinned at her, and she pushed him gently.

"Alright, alright, you pay."


	6. Holding hands with John Bender, criminal

A long one for ya ;)

As Allison got changed that night she wondered whether this was going to be a good idea. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe John just wasn t ready to get over Claire yet. Maybe Rose was just gonna get hurt. But then she decided that she was never wrong and that this was a very good idea. She scuffed her hair one last time and headed out. Her parents didn t notice. As usual.

As it was just going to be her and Allison, Rose didn t bother getting as dressed up as she would for school. Shrugging on a black, off the shoulder long sleeved shirt and applying her clear lip gloss (in case there was an especially cute guy selling tickets), Rose decided that despite a certain guy, life in Shermer seemed to be going okay. She had a good bunch of girlfriends and the making of two bffs in Claire and Allison. Who needs some stupid guy?

Bender practically ran out of the house in an attempt to get away from the threat of another beating. Allison was already there when he arrived, somewhat late from another slanging match with his no good fuckwit of a father. She gave him the ticket to the film she d already picked. Some horror or other. They headed towards the double doors and Allison waved to someone. Bender growled at Ally and gave her a look that d kill if it could when he realised exactly who was joining them.

"Oh, erm, hi John..." Rose gave Allison a puzzled look.

"Did I not mention John was coming?" Innocent look.

"Erm, no I don t think you did. But there we are." She smiled, shrugging the awkwardness away. "You re not gonna be scared, are you B?"

"You haven t seen some of the chicks I've dated. Trust me; I doubt there's anything that could scare me..." He gave a small laugh, "What about you, Princess? No quarterback to hold your hand here,"

"He didn t sound as evil as usual. He sounded teasing, but in a more flirtatious way." Suddenly, Rose decided that she actually did need some stupid guy.

"_Puh-lease _darling, you haven t seen the horrors I've dated." She winked "Public school." She added in a dramatic whisper.

They wandered into the cinema and after a whispered debate over the best place to sit, compromised and sat down.

"So, Princess. Public school. So why did ya come on over to a little state school in Shermer?"

"I got kicked out of three public schools in England, so my 'rents thought it d be a good idea for me to go to a normal school..." Rose giggled

"Kicked out hmm..." Even he d never been kicked out of Shermer, though he d been threatened several times. It was then that both he and Rose realised that they'd sat next to one another, with Allison the other side of Rose. As they vied silently for space on the armrest, their hands touched for a brief second, before Rose snatched hers away as though she d been burnt. Allison, seemingly oblivious to her friends discomfort happily munched away on popcorn and secretly hoped that whatever it was she was doing was working. Rose and John smiled awkwardly at each other then quickly looked away again.

Don't even think about it John Bender, she's too good for you. He drowned out the evil voice in his head as the movie began and he attempted to concentrate on the preppy girl about to get killed by the crazy axe guy. He attempted to superimpose Claire Standish s head onto her, but he was momentarily distracted as he felt Rose s arm wiggle its way into getting more space. A shiver went through him that he thought had very little to do with the lack of heating in the room. He turned his head slightly to look at her. Her eyes went wide as some idiot or other got killed, and as it got particularly graphic she turned her head away and watched through one eye.

"That doesn t make it any better, Princess. "He whispered. She opened the other eye and fixed them both on him, biting her lip in a way that, despite his earlier shiver, made him feel as though it was far too hot.

"Fucks sake..." He whispered, too quiet to hear he thought.

"What's up, B?"

"Keep looking at me like that and I will be."

She suppressed a giggle and turned back to the screen. Bender kept his eyes on her as, using his little finger, stroked oh so lightly up her wrist. Her eyes briefly flickered to their hands, then back to the screen, hoping he hadn t noticed. He had, of course and pulled her wrist so her hand was palm upwards. At this Rose looked away from the film she hadn t been concentrating on and locked eyes with John as he proceeded to trace her palm with his index finger. He began to trace up her wrist when he felt a bump that he was pretty sure wasn t meant to be there. About an inch long. And then another. And another. She shook her head in reply to his questioning look. He flashed a brief, sad, knowing smile and continued back up her palm, fearful if he'd continued along her arm he d have found more of those little bumps.

"Hey, Princess?"

"Bee?"

"Lift up your arm." She did so, puzzled. He lay him arm over the armrest and opened his hand so she could take it. She did, smiling shyly at him.

"Bee?

"Yea?"

"Just, you know, kinda glad it isn t some stupid quarterback trying to hold my hand."

Allison sat, her head cocked to one side, listening to the conversation going on next to her and allowed herself a smile.

"I'm glad too, Princess."

"Well, if Scott was trying to hold your hand he'd have to answer some serious questions about his sexuality."

They both started to giggle, which turned into uncontrollable laughter, which then gained them some very strange looks from the others in the cinema as someone had just had their head chopped off. Without thinking, Rose pulled up her hand from the armrest to stifle her giggles in her hand. John's hand came up with it and her lips gently brushed his knuckle. Suddenly, neither of them were laughing and John's stare was as intense as ever. Rose found herself somewhat daunted by its ferociousness, as though if she carried on looking she'd fall into it. She bit her lip.

"I told you not to look at me like that." He didn t move his hand.

"I can t stop."

As the credits began to roll and the lights came up, Allison grabbed her bag and was amused and gratified to see Rose and Bender drop each others hands like hot coal. They walked out of the cinema in silence, each lost in their own worlds. Ally had got an inspired idea for a picture. John was marvelling at the feel of Rose s skin, that just a touch could fill his whole body with a heat that usually he only felt with his dick. And Rose? Rose was in a kind of trance. Not three hours ago she d been swearing that she didn't need a man, she was perfectly happy at Shermer without one, and just thirty minutes ago she was drowning in two perfect pools of chocolate brown, holding hands with John Bender, criminal, in a movie theatre.


	7. I've got butterflies

Rose gave the two of them a lift home, dropping Allison off first despite the fact it probably would have been better to drop John off first, given that he lived closer to the cinema. As they pulled up outside his house, they could both hear his father shouting. Broken beer bottles lay discarded in the wasteland of a garden. John clenched his fists and stared through the front window.

"Is it that bad, Bee?"

"He nodded sharply."

"It's gonna be a good three hours until he passes out. Until then, I guess I m the punch bag."

"Do you not wanna go in?" He shook his head, still staring determinedly out of the windscreen.

"Then don't go in."

"I can't sleep on the streets."

"I don't mean ever. I mean until it s going to be okay for you to go in without being beaten to a pulp." The concern in her voice was evident and John was amazed for a moment that someone other than Ally could sound worried about him.

"What else am I gonna do?"

"Come back to mine,"

At her suggestion, he finally looked at her, eyes wide, eyebrows raised.

"Oh, not like that Bee! You have a one track mind! Just come back to mine. We can just like listen to music for a couple of hours."

"Your... your parents won't mind?"

She shook her head and began to drive back to hers.

Bender hesitated as Rose pushed open her door.

"Bee, they're not gonna bite. I promise. They only bite on Sundays."

They both smiled.

"Hey Mom, hey Daddy." Rose waved and grinned into a lounge that Bender thought could probably fit his entire house in.

"Hey Treasure." Her mom stood up to give her a hug. "I plated up dinner in case you're hungry."

"I'm fine. Mom this is b...John. He's in my English class at Shermer."

Rose's mom smiled warmly at him,

"Hi, Mrs Dubois." Bender smiled somewhat nervously.

"Call me Irene." At this moment, Rose s father unfolded himself from the couch. At six foot, he seemed daunting, and his salt and pepper hair and straight back spoke of military training to John.

"And call me Mac, please." He offered his hand to John, who shook it, "Good handshake, firm grip." Rose rolled her eyes.

"We're just gonna listen to some music in my room if that's okay."

"Sure thing sweetie. I'll bring up hot chocolate and cookies for you."

"Thanks Mom,"

Rose led the way up two flights of stairs.

"I've got the whole third floor, it's kinda my studio as well as my room," she explained almost apologetically to John as she pushed open the door at the top of the stairs. As they walked in, John in a stunned silence, Rose tidied things that were already fine. Everything was perfectly neat and straight. All ornaments were in symmetrical pairs, the duvet on the king sized double bed was made with military precision. About half of the studio had been taken up to be her bedroom, and Rose led them over to the other half, which seemed to double up as a lounge and studio in one.

"You can sit down," she smiled as she flicked on a CD and thanked God that she'd been listening to Guns and Roses that morning, not the Pussycat Dolls which was her normal getting ready music. John ignored her offer and instead wandered over the one wall that was covered with sketches that Rose had done. He spent a couple of minutes surveying them in silence then wandered to the huge floor to ceiling windows that took over one wall. In front of them was Rose's desk, set up with an A2 piece of paper that she was obviously working on. In front of the windows, lined up on the desk in a haphazard manner that contradicted the precision of the other half of the room, was an assortment of shells, skulls and pebbles. John glanced at the paper and then did a double take.

"It's my project for art class."

The paper stood portrait, and showed a girl at an angle, stood in front of a mirror. She was a princess, in a full ball gown, with a tiara and long white gloves. Then in the mirror, her reflection. But it wasn t her, it wasn't a princess. The girl in the mirror had scars on her wrists, black make up, wore a tiny skirt and her hair was artfully mussed up. She had a bottle in one hand and a cigarette in the other. The girl in the mirror was a criminal. But what got John, what made him turn and stare at Rose, was that they were both her. Subtle differences. The princess hair was longer, in ringlets. The criminals lips were slightly fuller. But it was her. Right down to the freckle slightly to one side on the tip of her nose.

When he turned, Rose was sat on a couch on the other side of the room, smoking.

"You want one, Bee?"

He nodded and sat next to her. They remained in silence for a while, listening to Guns and Roses and smoking. Irene interrupted the silence with the promised hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies, which tasted like a little bit of heaven. When they'd finished their hot chocolates and cigarettes they remained silent. Looking at each other. The intensity of earlier was gone. Without speaking Rose nudged his fingers with hers. They locked hands and he stroked the inside of her palm with his thumb. Her face broke into a grin and his mirrored hers. She blushed. He reached for her other hand with his, and caught her wrist. Again those bumps. He lifted her wrist up to his face and saw them for the first time. Hundreds of scars, all the same length, exactly one inch long, working their way up her arm in military straight lines. Without breaking eye contact he gently lifted them up and kissed his way along several of them.

"Bee..." He took her wrist away from his mouth, questioning her with his eyes. "Show me yours, I'll show you mine."

Bender rolled up a shirt sleeve and pointed to a long, jagged scar.

"Broken bottle, because I came in twenty minutes late after school."

Rose took her hand from Johns and pointed at her scars.

"Razor blade. Every time I'm not good enough."

John pulled her into a hug.

"You are good enough, Princess." He muttered into her hair. She pulled back to ask him what he'd said, but was distracted by how close he was to her. She found that she couldn t look him directly in the eye, so looked down. But that meant she was looking at his lips so her eyes darted between the two, trying to ignore that sickly feeling in her stomach. Damned butterflies.

"What?" oops. She didn t realise she d said that out loud.

"I've got butterflies. That's all."

"Butterflies?" His disbelief was evident in his voice. "Rose Dubois, princess, soon to be girlfriend of Scott the quarterback has butterflies over John Bender, criminal?"

"Nope." Seeing John s confusion she grinned. "Rose Dubois, princess and criminal, has butterflies over John Bender, criminal and hottest guy at Shermer."

"No Scott?"

"No Scott."

"And why would that be Princess?" He smirked. "Got a better offer?"

"Well, I haven't had an offer, and I don t expect one. But I think if I dated Scott I d have to stop myself kissing you. And that, Bee, would be a drag."

John smiled, but it quickly disappeared as he felt the intensity of earlier begin to make another appearance. He could remember full well how she d tasted that night. Strawberries and honey. A seductively sweet combination, totally at odds with her seductively not sweet personality. He wondered what she'd taste of now. Cigarettes and chocolate? He stared at her bottom lip as she bit it, perfectly aware of how much it made him want to kiss her. His erection poked at the denim of his jeans.

Unlike last time, it was definitely John who made the first move this time. Not a lunge, but not tentative, just dangerously slowly, he tilted his head to one side, their noses brushing. His arm, already around her waist from hugging her, tensed slightly to pull her closer to him. Then slowly and oh so softly, he pressed his lips to hers.

Rose collapsed into the kiss, pulling him as close to her as she could. He smelt of cigarettes and peppermint.

The kiss was everything that the last one wasn t. It wasn t so... rushed. Neither Rose nor John felt it necessary to be rid of the clothes. And yet, it was infinitely better for it. Not gentle, neither of them could stand gentle, but tantalising with the promise of what would happen after.

A while later, they sat silently again. Rose was curled into John, his arms encircling her.

"So, Princess. Three public schools huh?"

"Yup," she giggled. "Three wonderfully elitist private schools that couldn't handle little old me."

"What the hell did you do girl?"

"School 1: Found growing dope in my dorm room. Given warning and the found off my face stoned on the roof. Asked to leave. School 2: Found in the locker room going down on a female prefect. Given warning and then someone snitched that I'd been letting some of the boys from the partner school into our dorm. Asked to leave. School 3: Held heavy metal vomit party in hall halfway through my second semester. Given warning. Slept with good looking phys. Ed. Teacher to boost grade. Told to leave."

"Wow..."


	8. What are you going to do about Rose?

For the next two weeks, John Bender and Rose Dubois happily did not date. (Well, in so far as that they insisted they weren't dating, but everyone else was fully aware that they were dating.) They went out, to the pub some nights, back to the cinema (but totally not on dates). But without fail, they went back to Rose's studio. Sometimes they'd sit and make out for hours. Sometimes they'd not talk at all, Rose drawing and John listening to music. Occasionally they'd talk the entire night away. Bee and Princess became terms of affection, and Allison Reynolds could smile to herself, knowing that she d been the one behind their happiness. And for a while, they were happy. One time, John had been stood with his stoner mates, when Rose, clad in black and neon blue had jumped up onto his back shouting

"BEEEE!" and despite his usual annoyance with anything, John had just grinned and carried her around in a piggy-back for a good half an hour. English became their favourite class, holding hands under the desk. Staring when they thought the other wasn't looking. The three of them, Allison, Rose and John, would hang out occasionally. Sitting in Ally's room on purple beanbags, Rose and John holding hands like the "just friends" they were. When John turned up to every homeroom for a week, Claire smiled knowingly at Rose, which made her blush. At the mall, the girls insisted on every detail of a relationship Rose insisted didn t exist. John could withstand the bruises because Rose kissed them better. All was pretty damned good.

Until, that was, they had one fight that ruined everything.

"Why are you being so stupid? For gods sakes John I'm asking to sleep with you, not to marry you!"

"And I've said no!"

"And why the hell not. You want to, right?" He remained silent, looking at the floor. "Then why the fuck not? Are you a virgin or something?"

"Don't be stupid."

"Then why the hell not? Don't you wanna fuck me?"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU ANNOYING LITTLE SLUT."

Silence hung in the air.

"Get out. Get the fucking hell out of my house, John Bender." Rose whispered. He walked out without another word.

He ran straight to the one place he knew alcohol was always freely available. To Allison s house.

He rapped insistently on her bedroom window and jumped in as soon as she opened it.

"Stupid little princess SLUT." He yelled.

"Woah! Wait what?"

He pulled Ally into a hug as he explained, resting his head against hers.

"Don't worry about it, Bender, you guys will sort it."

"I dunno, Ally-May..." He broke away from the hug and pushed her back to look at her. "Anyway, enough about me, and my nonexistent relationships. What about you?"

"Ah, you know..." She hung her hair in front of her face so Bender wouldn't see how annoyed she was about her actually nonexistent relationships. "Hasn t been anyone since Andrew."

Bender used his index finger to make his best friend look at him.

"You were too good for Sporto," he said, the vehemence in his voice surprising the both of them.

Suddenly, without thinking of what she was doing or the consequences, Allison Reynolds stood on tiptoes and kissed John. She pulled back almost immediately, apologising profusely, but John remained silent. The look in his eyes confused Allison, as did the way he wouldn t let her go. Instead, thinking with one part of his body and one only, John Bender pushed her back onto her bed and kissed her, hurriedly, roughly. Without a thought, she opened her legs so he could lie comfortably between them and he pushed his crotch towards her.

"Fuck, Ally..." he knotted one hand in her hair as the other scrambled under her baggy shirt to feel the smooth skin beneath it.

Neither of them heard the knock at the front door, or the steps coming up the stairs. Neither did they hear the door open.

"John..." Allison gasped as he played with her breasts and kissed her neck.

"Oh, God... Ally, can I fuck you? Please?" Bucking his crotch towards her again he relished her little yelp of approval. He'd never noticed how cute it was but now it turned him on and he roughly pulled her jumper and shirt over her head and immediately fell to kissing her breasts. It was only when he did this that Allison looked over his shoulder and saw Rose Dubois standing at the threshold of her bedroom. She wasn't crying, Ally guessed she was beyond that, she was just standing there, looking like some sort of pale underworld goddess with her black lace dress, biker boots and leather jacket. And what looked suspiciously like mascara trails down her cheeks. She locked eyes with Ally, who felt a wrench in her gut when she realised what the hell was going on. She pushed John, who was currently engaged in sucking on one of her nipples.

"God, don t tell me I can't Ally-May..." he looked up at her and saw her face. Which was when John Bender turned round to see what she was staring at. Rose found she couldn t hold his eyes.

"Guessing this isn t the best time. Um. I ll see you in art, I guess." At that, she turned around and sped out of the house. Allison and Bender didn t move until they heard the starting of a motorbike, at which John jumped up.

"Oh holy Jesus." That was Allison, fully aware of how much she d just hurt the second best friend she had. The only other friend she had.

"Can you imagine the storm of crap that is going to hit us at Shermer on Monday?"

"She won't. She ll ignore us. I don t know which is worse."

"Ally-May..."

"Yea..."

"You do realise that we just kissed?"

"Yea... I'm pretty sure I remember..."

"Well... I don t mean to be a total shit... but that's not gonna happen again right?"

"No fucking way Bender... I feel like I just kissed my brother."

"If you kiss your brother like that..."

"Ugh, JOHN!" He ducked a slap.

"Okay okay." He laughed. "But I get what you mean. Impulse thing that now feels weird right?"

"Exactly..."Allison frowned. "What the bloody hell are you going to do about Rose?"

"Nothing. No point. She was just some random chick. It s not like we were in a relationship."

"Oh, stop lying John Bender. Come here." He stepped closer to her, confused. She took the diamond stud out of his ear and proceeded to throw it out of the window. "Forget about Claire Standish. Forget about what just happened. Stop lying to yourself. Which brings me back to the original question. What the bloody hell are you going to do about Rose?"


	9. It's just easier

John Bender was as good as his word. He did nothing about Rose. That Monday morning he died a little inside when she walked into homeroom, looking more perfect in his eyes than she ever had, in tiny denim shorts and a cut off white T. For a moment, she caught his eye and he thought she was going to walk over and sit next to him, grabbing his hand under the table, grinning so hard her nose wrinkled. But then John realised she hadn't locked eyes with him at all. She had looked through him, so pointedly he felt she'd taken her damn razor blade to his heart. Razor blade. He looked down at her arms, and though he couldn't be certain, he thought he saw an angry redness. He'd check it out in English, he promised himself.

In English, just a little more of him died. She came in grinning, wearing Scott's letterman jacket. She sat down near John, not having any choice, ignoring him completely. Not even noticeably ignoring him, it was like he was invisible. Like she was the Princess and he was the Criminal, so low that she couldn t even register him. It was then he remembered the angry flash of red earlier and looked at her arm. Instead of another column of military straight cuts three long slashes ran diagonally along almost the length of her forearm.

Calmly and without saying a word, without breaking concentration, Rose reached into her pocket and carefully placed John Bender's switchblade knife on the table in front of him.

"Rose..." He muttered quietly. She held up a hand. "YOU'RE A FUCKING BITCH! YOU'RE A FUCKING WHORE PRINCESS BITCH." He got up, ignoring the dirty looks from his teacher. "YOU ARE A STUPID SLUT AND I HOPE YOU HAVE FUN FUCKING THE BRAINS OUTTA THE BRAIN DEAD QUARTER BACK!"

"Oh shut the fuck up John Bender. Just because you're too frigid to fuck, and to goddamn stupid to realise when someone might actually just give a fuck whether you live or die."

"Rose Dubois and John Bender!" Their teacher finally screamed at them. "Both of you detention this Saturday. Now sit down, shut up and we can continue with _Lord of the Flies_."

That Wednesday, Allison made her way tentatively into her art class. Her heart in her mouth, she glanced at the desk her and Rose shared. Rose was already there, working on yet another picture, this one on a huge canvas and she was using acrylics, not pencil. Allison looked down at the floor and attempted to remain as silent as possible. John had told her about the stony silence, followed by the shouting match that had got them both a detention and she hated the idea that Rose would scream at her. Confrontation was not something Allison was good at.

"Hey Ally,"Rose smiled, although perhaps it was a little forced, and Allison was slightly shocked and somewhat suspicious. "Don't look at me like I m gonna eat you hun!"

"You're... you re not mad?"

"Not at you Ally-May. I should have seen it before, really."

"Seen what?"

"You and John! It was so obvious. I mean, you're like made for each other," She smiled

"But... Rose... me and John, we re not...We don't like each other... like that..."

"Ally, please. John obviously likes you. Otherwise, well otherwise he wouldn t refuse to have sex with me and then go straight to yours and attempt to get in your pants... Obviously he was trying to get over you by being with me but it didn t work...And I'm glad, you guys are cute together." she gave a small, very forced laugh.

"But Rose, he doesn t like me at all..."

"Ally. If he doesn t like you at all then the truth is that he just never liked me at all. And that'd be okay if it was just a guy. It'd be fine, if it wasn t John. If it wasn t Bee. I think he's the only guy I've actually ever started to like. It's just easier if I can think he's always loved you. Because otherwise he's never liked me."

Allison remained silent.

"So no, Ally, I'm not mad, because I can understand why you went with it. John s good looking and... charming I guess in a strange way. I'm just, annoyed at him that s all."

And with that, Allison s heart went out in sympathy with Rose s, and broke.


	10. Stupidly irresistable

**Sorry for the major lag in updates. Studying is a bitch. Any how, enjoy. Oh and I still don't own him. Damnit.**

-x-x-x

That night when John tapped insistently on her window, Allison refused to let him in.

"I'm not talking to you until you have spoken to Rose."

"You're speaking to me now, Ally-May,"

"Only to tell you that I'm not speaking to you until she's told me that you've spoken to her. You've got all day Saturday with her. Speak to her!"

"Don't remind me. I have a feeling she won t turn up. Or she'll get Daddy to call Vernon and get her out of it."

"Speak to her! And with that, she drew her curtains."

That night, at home, John was too pissed off for words. He slammed into the house, not caring whether his father heard him. Throwing his stuff onto the floor, he stomped his way into the kitchen, tearing the cupboards open and grabbing the only thing left. One packet of crisps. His father lurched his way into the kitchen after his no good dick of a son. John went down on the first punch to the back of his head. Whilst his father rained blows onto his face and torso, John curled on the floor, refusing to fight. He knew he'd regret it come tomorrow, when he was bruised and aching and Rose wouldn t lift her face to his to carefully kiss the fading bruises. He felt the weight of his switchblade in his jacket pocket and immediately thought of Rose's latest cuts. How angry and violent they were in comparison to the perfect precision of the other cuts. _Every time I'm not good enough._

That night, at home, Rose let herself cry. In the perfect order of her bedroom, which she'd already hoovered three times that evening, where she'd always felt perfectly in control, she realised that somehow she'd given John Bender control over just a little part of her, and was horrified at the implications. Saturday, she realised, was going to be hell. Spending a whole day cooped up in the Library with John Bender. Then she cried at the absurdity. John Bender, criminal and Rose Dubois, public schoolgirl. Princess. It was hardly the match of the century. It would never have worked and she knew it. And she cried because she should have known it before. She cried because her wrist hurt and because it was John s knife that had done it. She wondered, briefly, if he got the reference. He'd hurt her, and so she'd used his knife to hurt herself more. She doubted he did. It was John Bender, too low for her to notice.

Saturday came, and John Bender sat quietly in the Library. Vernon didn t like this. It meant he was up to something. Rose crept in quietly, avoiding eye contact with him. After Vernon had gone through his usual spiel, he left the two alone, with the door open of course. For half an hour, they sat in perfect silence, Rose fiddling with the sleeves of Scott's jacket, John tapping on the table in time to the second hand of the clock, glaring at Rose.

"How's Scott?" He finally spat.

"He's well, thank you. He took me to dinner last night."

"Where? Alinea?" He laughed bitterly. Alinea was one of the most expensive restaurants in Chicago.

"Yes, actually. It was lovely." John went silent. A night there, on average, would cost at least two hundred quid. He'd been right. Rose Dubois was completely and fully out of his league.

"Lemme guess, he paid for the whole night?"

"Of course, John. The guys usually pay for dates."

"So you re like, dating?

"Given the fact I referred to it as a date that would be the logical conclusion."

"Did you fuck him?"

"That's none of your business John."

"So you did." He remained silent for a good half an hour, staring at Rose.

"So, you and Scott the quarterback. Gonna be Prom King and Queen, he's gonna follow you to college, you'll get married straight after, maybe push out some puppies, cook hubbies dinner every night and never use that diploma of yours. Then when the puppies have grown and he's retired, he'll take up golf and start having it on with a younger model that hasn't lost that pretty little figure yet. You'll know, but you'll ignore it and carry on doing his washing. Sound about accurate?"

"Stop being such a dick, John. I've been on two dates with him; we're hardly announcing our engagement. I went on more dates with you, for Christ's sake."

"That's what'll happen."

"And what about you? What are you gonna be doing while I'm pushing out kids and doing laundry?"

"Fuck all."

"Judging by those bruises, you'll probably be dead."

"Shut up Princess. And, for the record, we never went on any dates."

Rose laughed, somewhat bitterly.

"No, I suppose we didn't. John Bender doesn't do dates. And if he did, it wouldn t be with a no good princess like me."

They remained silent for another long half an hour.

"Why do you care so much about me dating Scott?"

"...I don t."

She swung round to look at him, meeting his eyes. John felt like he d been kicked in the stomach.

"Yes, you do. Otherwise you wouldn t have ranted like you did about some future life that isn't going to happen. That s not the kind of life I could ever lead and you know it. Okay, maybe I could be prom queen, but Scott hasn t even asked me to prom so I don't even know if I'm going. But why do you care? You cared enough to run to Ally, to beg her to fuck you. I know we weren't dating. I know I shouldn t care but I do. So, why do you care I'm dating him"

"I told you I don't care."

You re a liar, John Bender.

At that moment, Vernon came in to check on the students. Having ascertained that nothing untoward was happening, and threatening John with more detention, he left for his office once more.

"I am not a liar,"

"Then tell me."

"I don't care that you're dating Scott... I just...care. That you're dating."

"Why? We weren't dating, remember."

"I know. But... you weren t dating anyone else either."

She got up and sat on his desk cross legged, facing him.

"You hurt me, John Bender. No one's ever done that before." She cocked her head to the left and gazed at him with an intensity that almost hurt him. "No one. And I still don't know how to change how you think about me."

"Oh, poor Princess. Your life is just so damn hard, isn t it."

"John...I didn't mean..."

"Because, you know Princess, some people can't afford to buy a new Audi every time they break one, or to go to Alinea every fucking day. Some people s Dad's hit them for making too much noise, or burn them for spilling paint, but nothing compares to poor little Princess having her heart broken."

"Just because I'm rich doesn t mean my life is perfect, John. Okay, it s a damn sight better than yours but it's not goddamned perfect okay?" She got up and walked back to her own seat, pulling out her sketch book and turning to a new page. John stared at the clock for a while longer, before he couldn t bear the silence.

"So, why Scott?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why Scott? You could have gone out with any guy at Shermer."

"No one else asked."

"Oh." He frowned.

A while later she looked up from her sketch book and turned to look at him again

"Today is starting to become boring and depressing, Bender. Amuse me." She smirked at him.

"Does that mean I'm forgiven?" He raised an eyebrow

"Depends on how well you amuse me, now doesn't it." Grinning evilly at her he walked over tantalisingly slowly and kneeled next to her.

"Now how would you want to be amused, Princess?" He carefully pressed a kiss to her knee.

"I'm sure you can think of something, Bender..." It was a hoarse whisper that escaped her throat.

"I can...but I'm not sure Scott would be too happy about any of them..." Another kiss, just above the knee.

"And why would that be?"

"Because," another, slightly higher than before, "all my ideas involve you wearing some deliciously small outfits," another kiss, nearly at the hem of her short denim skirt, "and at some point, all of my ideas involve me kissing every inch of your body," he nudged her skirt up and placed yet another kiss on her thigh, "and of course, they all involve you screaming my name." She shuddered at the emphasis he placed on screaming, and took a sharp intake of breath as he placed his last kiss as close to her as he dared.

"Claire was right about you..."

"What?" That wasn't exactly what he'd wanted to hear.

"You're stupidly irresistible..." She clambered in a slightly ungraceful way so she was sat on the floor opposite him. And this time, it was definitely Rose who made the first move.


	11. Tiny food and your favourite champagne

When Vernon came into check on them about an hour later, he immediately gave them two more months worth of detention. Lying on the floor, John's shirt undone, Rose s cheeks flushed pink, was not an acceptable way to spend detention. Especially as the young lady's skirt was pushed up around her waist and John Bender's trousers had an unacceptably large bump. The girl giggled as they realised that they had company, and attempted to straighten her clothing.

"Well, hey there Vernon... Come to join the party?" He winked, making no attempt to do up his shirt or straighten his ruffled hair.

"You!" He pointed at John, grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and dragged him out of the library to the closet. John wrenched himself from Vernon s grasp, straightened the collar of his shirt, winked at Rose and whispered

"See ya, Princess." Rose bit her lip and looked down at the table to hide her blush.

Vernon chucked Bender into his closet and locked the door from the outside. John collapsed onto the seat, grinning uncontrollably. Had that actually just happened? Did Rose Dubois just kiss him like that? Nice girls don t kiss like that, and he should know, he'd been with Claire Standish for two months. He raked a hand through his hair and thought of her kisses. Cherries and cigarettes and quite possibly a hint of marijuana. But she, by her own admission was dating Scott the quarterback. But only because no one else had asked. He had to know.

When Vernon and Bender had left, Rose leant back in her chair and allowed herself to grin. But then she thought of Scott, and began to worry. Could she leave the most popular guy in school for the most hated? Presuming, of course, that John would ask her. If he did though, could she? She thought of the rough way his lips had attacked hers, the heat of his hands as they sought to touch as much of her as they could. She could. And, if he asked her, she would. She wanted to be the one to kiss away the bruises. She wanted to save him, and she was damn sure she could.

She was awoken from her reverie by the sound of John s voice.

"Daydreaming, Princess?" He was smirking at her, knowing full well he d been the subject of her thoughts.

"John? How the hell...?"

"Vents." He grinned. "Now, where were we?"

"I believe, Mr. Bender, that you were about to take off my shirt..."

"Well then," he began as he curled his fingers under the soft cotton of her t-shirt, "That is where I shall pick up. But, firstly..." He looked intently into her eyes, "I suppose I ought to ask... Will you be my girlfriend?"

Rose bit her lip and kissed him in response, meshing her fingers in his hair. Pulling away almost immediately, she whispered in his ear

"I never fucked him, John. The whole night I wished he was you."

After detention, Rose kissed John goodbye and smiled as he walked home, decidedly more cheerful then he d been coming the other way that morning. Rose text Ally that she was officially John Bender's girlfriend and called Scott to say she couldn t date him anymore.

It was Monday when the crap officially hit the blades. Scott had come up to her in the middle of the corridor. Rose was putting the finishing touches to her make up in the mirror on the back of her locker door when he'd stood behind her and asked

"So, what the hell is with the break up phone call?"

Rose turned and smiled at him.

"I'm sorry Scott. It wasn't really a break up, though. We did only go on two dates..."

"I took you to Alinea." Rose looked at him properly and saw that he was kinda pissed off.

"I didn't ask you to Scott."

"And when we got home you didn't even invite me in..."

"Second date, Scott..."

"Three hundred quid for a dinner that consisted of some tiny food and your favourite champagne."

"Scott..." He'd gotten somewhat closer to her.

"For what? You to decide that I'm not good enough for you?"

"Scott, step back a little yeah?"

"So what is it?"

"I like someone else, Scott. Now please, move back?" Instead, he stepped forward. "Please Scott." He was pressed up against her now. She turned her head to one side to avoid being too close to his face.

"So who is it?" He pressed against her. She couldn't believe that in a crowded hallway no one had noticed. "What fuckwit stole my girlfriend?"

"I'm not your girlfriend, and I never was Scott..."

"WHO IS IT?"

Just then, thankfully, Rose saw John walking down the corridor.

"John!" She yelled. "Bee!"

"What the fuck?" He yelled.

"You're joking," Scott sneered. "John Bender?"

John grabbed the back of Scott's shirt, dragging him backwards. Letting go, he allowed Scott to stagger to his feet before he punched him in the face. Scott fell to the floor, the unexpected force of the punch having caught him off guard. Lying on the floor with his hand covering his face, he felt the full force of John s boot in his crotch. John bent down.

"Stay...the...fuck...away... from... Rose..."


	12. Epilogue

He got suspended, of course. Vernon couldn't exactly let it slide, and was more than happy to expel him, but Rose swore he did it in her defence and several others supported her statement that Scott was making unwanted advances. Scott was given detention for a few months, but he was the star of the school, and no one really mentioned it again.

Rose did go to Prom. But she didn't go with the quarterback, she went with her criminal. She'd insisted that he wore a suit and brought him one for that very purpose. He'd balked at the price but she'd shrugged it off, saying that she might as well spend it as not.

She was Prom Queen, and Scott was Prom King, but Rose, in a typical move, refused the offer of the traditional dance between the two of them, and danced with John instead.

They did fuck. Eventually. And Rose decided on the spot that John was worth the wait.

Rose did go to Harvard. She studied English and got her degree maxima cum laude. She hasn t used it yet though. She decided to travel and her and John are currently arguing somewhere in Europe.

Ally? She gets postcards, when they remember. She currently makes a modest but manageable living selling her increasingly popular paintings.

So, they're travelling the world, but after that, they're not sure. They're not exactly the planning type, other than where to head to next. New Zealand maybe. Russia perhaps. But they're in love and that s all that matters for now.

The perfect criminal and his damaged princess.


End file.
